After one band director died and another resigned, Collingswood marching band members fight to save its program
Band members and supporters have launched a petition drive that has garnered more than 1,400 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. The program has struggled since band director Joe Lerch died suddenly.
First, their marching band director died suddenly in 2023, and Collingswood High School students thought the program would end, too.
Then a teacher stepped up to temporarily fill out that school year, as well as 2023-24. Now, that teacher, Lori Ludewig, has resigned from the position, and the future of the Panther Marching Band, a longtime tradition in the school system, is in jeopardy again.
Band members and supporters are fighting to save the program and have launched a petition that had garnered more than 1,400 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. While Collingswood has advertised for the band director position, students believe it won’t happen soon enough to accommodate the band’s summer weekly practices and retreat. Instead they want the district to hire another music teacher to help with Ludewig’s duties, and let Ludewig resume serving as the band director.
‘Marching band is iconic’
Concerned students and parents packed a school board meeting last week to make an emotional plea to save the band. With time running out before the 2024-25 season gets underway, they are vowing to keep up the pressure.
“Marching band is iconic to the high school experience,” said Regan Burke, 16, the color guard captain. “Without a marching band, who will cheer on the football team? Who will usher them in with the national anthem?”
The 56-member Panther Marching Band has been around for several decades. It includes musicians, a color guard, rifle, flag, and saber units.
The band suffered a devastating blow in the spring of 2023 when longtime band director Joe Lerch died unexpectedly. Lerch was known for saying, “Those who stay will be champions.” The band won numerous band competitions and was best in the state in 2021 under his leadership.
To keep the band intact, Ludewig, an assistant under Lerch and a music teacher in Collingswood, became the band director. She fulfilled the extracurricular activity last year while maintaining her teaching duties in the district’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
A day after learning she would have the same workload for the forthcoming school year, Ludewig summoned band members and booster club parents to a meeting last week to inform them that she had to step down to lighten her workload. Ludewig and students were in tears, Burke said.
”It felt like the world was crashing down around me,” Burke, a rising senior, said in an interview. “Everyone had accepted the fact that the marching band was going away, at least for the foreseeable future.”
Ludewig declined to comment for this story. Supporters say Ludewig had worked long days and weekends and could no longer juggle job and family duties.
“She may have stepped down, but there was nothing voluntary about it,” Laura Powell Galloway, a parent and secretary of the Panther Booster Club, told the school board. ”It is all of you who should be apologizing to her.”
‘Mad as hell’
Current and former band members spoke about what the band meant to them, whether helping build friendships or developing leadership skills. Karen Tanner, a teacher and band mother, said band was what kept her son in school in the aftermath of the coronavirus. Others cited research that has found that music has an impact on student achievement and can improve math and reading skills.
“I’m mad as hell about what is being done to our music department,” said resident Art Mecurio. “These kids are more than a head count. This is your job to figure out, and you need to do better.”
Losing the band would be “another hit to a school system under fire,” said parent Rebecca Mecurio. “Enough is enough.”
Following an emotional meeting, Assistant Superintendent Meredith Howell-Turner said the Camden County school system was working on a long-term solution and is “fully committed to ensuring the continuation of our award-winning band and color guard programs. It’s what our students deserve.”
Burke said the band held its first practice last week. Typically, the band would practice every Wednesday and then hold a retreat in late August. All of that is on hold until there is a director, she said.
“We don’t want anyone else stepping in. We want Mrs. Ludewig. We love and want her to be able to be with us,” Burke said.